Jerry Jones Calling Greg Hardy A Cowboys ‘Leader’ Did Not Sit Well With One Reporter

The ongoing saga of the Dallas Cowboys pretending they’re not employing and enabling a dangerously violent person continued on Sunday, as the talented-yet-unstable Greg Hardy shoved and intimidated his special teams coach after the Cowboys gave up an eventual game-winning kick return touchdown to the New York Giants. Since it was a stark example of just what kind of person the Cowboys hired, the media took the opportunity to force Cowboys leadership to once again either cop to the fact that they tacitly endorse Hardy’s behavior, or bury their heads in the sand. And guess which option owner Jerry Jones chose.

No, Jerry, Hardy bullying a smaller man is not “being a real leader.” What Dez Bryant did immediately after is what real leaders do. That heated argument, we now know, was Bryant taking Hardy to task over his actions.

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The reporter who couldn’t help but smell Jones’ sh*t was Sports Illustrated‘s Jenny Vrentas, who had this to say about the owner’s comments:

Jones called Hardy, "one of the real leaders on the this team," which is perhaps not surprising that he would say, but hard to understand.

Implicit in these actions are the Cowboys coldly choosing on-field production over character as the requirement for a place in their organization. There’s nothing Jones can really say about Hardy that won’t be hogwash besides, “Listen, we know he’s a bad guy, but as long as he’s not getting arrested he gets sacks, so he plays.” That’s essentially what Hardy said himself. That’s why forcing Jones and head coach Jason Garrett to talk about Hardy over and over again is important — they know they’re lying, or at the very least spewing nonsense. The hope is that they’ll get tired over his headaches and cut him loose, so that Hardy knows he at least has to pretend to change.

“Implicit in these actions are the Cowboys coldly choosing on-field production over character as the requirement for a place in their organization.” Sooo, like, every other decision every team has ever made? Seriously, why are the NFL supposed to be the morality police. We have laws for that. Greg Hardy is a giant asshole. Greg Hardy is great at playing football. These two things are not mutually exclusive.